My 32-year career with Mission ONE just came to a close at the end of 2024.

I am humbled and grateful for all the ways that I was honored to learn from and collaborate with—people in the global church, both in the United States and in various parts of the world. Profound thanks are due to the many generous people who have supported my ministry with Mission ONE. None of us can do what we do on our own. We are all interdependent. We are part of the body of Christ with every member giving and doing its part so that the body thrives. I feel unjustly blessed. God is faithful.

Bob Schindler, the founder of Mission ONE, remains my dearest friend; it has been a wonderful privilege to serve alongside him all these years. Olivia Mulerwa has been Mission ONE’s president for three years. Olivia has embraced Mission ONE’s original DNA and is truly building on that. I believe I am leaving Mission ONE when it is in a healthy place and getting healthier. By God’s grace, I also plan to collaborate with some Mission ONE partners in 2025—doing some teaching and training in India and Nepal concerning honor, shame, and the gospel.

What’s next for me? 1) Finishing a four-year book project, and 2) a new season of ministry focusing on the gospel of peace for all persons and peoples, and honor-shame in missiology and theology. These two arenas are briefly described below.

1) Forthcoming book: One New Humanity: Glory, Violence, and the Gospel of Peace

Here’s the book thesis: One New Humanity argues that Ephesians 2 offers a radical vision of human dignity and peace that challenges the shame and violence of the Roman Empire and the contemporary world. Drawing on insights from early Christians, the global church, social sciences, and the biblical narrative, we show that through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, we gain a peaceable way of being human for the world—impacting identity, relationships, church, and vocation. In the process of deeply examining glory, violence, and the gospel of peace, we answer the question, “What does it mean to be human?”

The book has three sections: 1) GLORY and Shame, 2) VIOLENCE and Sin, 3) The GOSPEL OF PEACE and its King. Zac Niringiye, who served as an advisor to us on the book project, provides the Afterword. Brad Vaughn (a.k.a. Jackson Wu) provides a rich and compelling theological article, “Reconciling Atonement in Ephesians 2” as Appendix 1. CLICK HERE for a chapter-by-chapter overview of the book.

Kristin Caynor and I have been working on this book for four years. The book layout is nearly complete, and it is now going into the proofreading stage. Kristin and I hope the book will be a catalyst for many crucial conversations—near and far.

2) A new season of ministry focusing on the gospel of peace for all persons and peoples, and honor-shame in missiology and theology

I will be under the ministry umbrella of Antioch Network as an independent contractor. Their ministry is about unreached peoples, and reconciliation. I have known some of their key leaders. Antioch Network is a good fit.

My work will have three areas of emphasis:

1. Christ’s gospel of peace for all persons and peoples
2. King Jesus, our example of true humanity
3. Honor-shame in missiology, theology, and the gospel

My activities will include:

1. Writing about various facets of Christ’s gospel of peace for all persons and peoples
2. Facilitate conversations and conferences about the gospel of peace and honor-shame
3. Speaking, training, writing—advocating for Christ-centered peacemaking, and honor-shame in missiology and theology
4. Serving locally and globally through open doors of ministry

I am calling my ministry “Werner Mischke / Far & Near” (the far-and-near theme comes from Eph 2:17). Want to learn more? CLICK HERE for a two-page overview.

Finally, I want to share this verse below (John 15:2). It was meaningful to me when I left my business in 1992 to join Mission ONE; this verse is meaningful to me today. Naturally, there is pain in any pruning, but there is also the hope of more fruitfulness. This is how I am seeing my transition. Are you facing any “pruning” in your life? Take heart. God is faithful.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

John 15:2 (ESV)